Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Literacy
It may be appropriate to revisit the well-known phrase in the Declaration of Independence giving all people the “inherent and inalienable right” to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
I’m all about happiness (and consider myself a positive person by nature), and supporting each of our efforts to determine how to achieve that state of contentment, fulfillment, and satisfaction over time. We need more people to be happy. However, I would propose that a critical reality of feeling confident about our choices and our efforts has a basis in being able to read. Reading and understanding words is and should be one of our guiding happiness principles.
A Detroit-based literacy collective impact project, Reading Works (RW), has directly tackled this issue in southeast Michigan. Recognizing the challenges facing 1 out of 3 people who cannot read or understand, RW embarked on an ambitious project to provide resources and support to existing agencies to assess, address and move forward on goals to raise literacy levels high enough to gain employment. Reading Works enlisted ardentCause L3C to provide the technology (platform) for tracking and reporting key indicators to provide the relevant information
As a result of Reading Works’ commitment to the collaboration, ardentcause developed LiteracyPath, an online data management system. It’s a powerful online tool for gathering timely information for the collaborative while protecting the privacy of learners. As a result, a picture emerges of the progress being made by collaboration members toward achieving positive community outcomes as well as individual organizational goals — directing potential next steps to move the needle forward…. always forward!
ardentCause is committed, locally and nationally, to helping forge new happiness by providing an array of tools and services to those dedicated to literacy improvement work. It’s imperative that learners continue to be engaged to read and further their involvement in creating more dynamic and happy communities!
Nancy Glen (a/k/a “Happy Nancy”)
